As part of its ongoing turnaround, Nissan is considering bringing back a familiar take on a familiar nameplate.
According to Automotive News, Nissan is reportedly looking into splitting the Pathfinder up into two distinct flavours, and selling both variants side-by-side. The first will be a next-generation follow-up to the outgoing Pathfinder, which went to a unibody platform a little over a decade ago. It's expected "sometime in 2028 or 2029."Here's where things get interesting: Nissan is also reportedly considering a second variant of the Pathfinder, but this one will be built atop the same body-on-frame platform as the soon-to-be-reborn Xterra, due out in 2029 at the earliest. Unlike its unibody sibling, it'll have a greater focus on ruggedness and off-road capability, with the report even suggesting the Pro-4X will be the only available trim.
Along with the platform, Nissan is expected to use powertrains and pricing to differentiate the two Pathfinder variants even further. The unibody Pathfinder will remain gas-only, while this rumoured body-on-frame variant would launch with a gas powertrain, before eventually going hybrid. The report also suggests the body-on-frame Pathfinder would carry a budget-friendlier price tag, while the unibody variant will be positioned as more of a premium product.
The risks of crowding the segment are real, but if Toyota can fill the segment with multiple variants of the same product, Nissan can do it, too.
